Plant City unloads in the 11th to drub Durant

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

Thursday, April 21, 2022

PLANT CITY – Thursday’s battle between district and neighboring rivals Plant City and Durant was everything you could ask for out of two teams that know each other almost as well as the players know their own teammates. It was an absolute dogfight … for 10 of its 11 innings.

Though deep into extra-innings something had to give, and it did so in the Raiders’ favor as Plant City unloaded with a two-homer, nine-run top of the 11th that put away the Cougars, 10-1 in the first of two games between the opponents in as many days.

“Whew, I’m tired,” junior pitcher Tanner Rollyson said after the game.

The lefty hurler certainly came by it honest. After tossing 44 pitches and earning a win at Lennard on Monday, Rollyson took over for Preston Rogers at the to start the seventh inning of a tied ballgame. Rollyson delivered five innings of relief for the Raiders, limiting Durant to just four hits and striking out four to earn his second win of the week.

“I remember in the regular season last year against Durant, it was a tight game and Durant ended up winning by one run,” Rollyson said. “Preston threw and I threw the last inning, so it was almost like we wanted to get a little bit of revenge here.”

Gavin Florio, who had turned in three incredible innings of relief for Durant (13-7, 3-2 in Class 7A-District 6) returned for his fourth to face senior Jackson VanDerZee, who smoked the first pitch he saw over the wall in centerfield.

“I had missed a bunch of fastballs earlier in the game, and I wasn’t going to miss that one,” VanDerZee said. “From the bat, I knew it was gone.”

From there Plant City (14-6, 4-1 in 7A-6) punched the timeclock as the Raiders had 13 plate appearances in the inning, including two RBI hits for Wyatt Fordham, a double by Chase Mobley and the second big one – a grand slam for senior Colin Shultz.

“That was the best feeling,” Shultz said. “To get a big hit in a big spot to keep things rolling, there is no better feeling.”

Shultz upped his team lead in RBI to 24, while his and VanDerZee’s home runs were each hitters’ sixth of the season.

“Vandy and Shultz – we are literally depending on them on offense right now,” Rollyson said. “We have been relying on our pitching, but those two have been dominant for us. It’s always good to have a couple of big shots in the lineup.”

Though the line score suggests otherwise, Wednesday’s affair was, in majority, a pitcher’s duel, as Cougars senior Torin Byrnes tossed seven innings, allowing one run on six hits, with five strikeouts and no walks.

In counter, Rogers went six, yielding a single run, striking out five, and scattering nine hits.

Florio entered for Durant in the eighth and in his first three innings on the mound recorded all nine outs, almost single-handedly – striking out seven, fielding a comebacker off the mound, and picking off a runner at second who had reached on an error.

The Raiders turned in a near-perfect game defensively as well, as Shultz was a wall behind the plate, threw out one baserunner, and made a great play on a weakly popped-up bunt with two runners aboard in the seventh. The senior captain did all that while also posting a 4-for-6 night at the plate.

“Our pitchers have been stellar and have kept us in games all year,” Shultz said. “Protecting them and helping them at the plate in any way I can is what I try to do. That’s my job.”

Plant City’s defense was impressive with second baseman Deven Gonzalez turning in a pair of great plays (one for an out, and one saving a run), great effort in centerfield from Ray Cowen, and VanDerZee with a strike from rightfield to Shultz at the plate keep Durant from getting a run in the home-11th – and keep Rollyson’s ERA at 0.00 after 21 innings this season.

Durant looked poised to break things open early, scoring a first inning run on successive singles by Avery Cherry, Dylan LaPointe, and finally a run-scoring liner into right by Oscar Fernandez. But the early output ended there as Rogers struck out two with runners on the corners.

VanDerZee evened the game in the fifth, with a single scoring Anthony Grasso (2-for-5, RBI, two runs) and the game stretched on from there.

Durant got a three-hit night from Carlos Morales (including a double smashed off the wall in right-center), while Devin Suero and Florio each had two hits in the loss.

The Cougars appeared to have the game won in the ninth with the bases loaded as a swing strike-three to LaPointe went to the back stop and everyone took off. However, the celebration was short-lived as the ball actually hit LaPointe while he swung and the umpires made the correct call on a dead-ball out to end the frame.

The two teams get to run it back tonight with the Raiders playing host this time, starting at 7 p.m.

“We’ll sleep on this one tonight,” VanDerZee said, “but we’ve got business tomorrow.”

⚾⚾⚾⚾

Plant City 10
(4) Durant 1 – 11 innings

PC 000|010|000|09 – |10|13|0
D   100|000|000|00 – |1|13|2
W – Rollyson (3-1); L – Florio (1-1)
2B – Mobley (PC); Morales, Greenwell (D); HR – VanDerZee, Shultz (PC). Records – PC (14-6, 4-1 in 7A-6); D (13-7, 3-2 in 7A-6).